Businesses Say the eAkcyz System Is Not Ready: Will the Shortcomings Be Fixed by November 1?
23 July 19:18
ANALYSIS FROM 
The State Tax Service of Ukraine has announced the start of beta testing for excise tax payment services in the Electronic System for the Circulation of Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco Products, and Liquids Used in Electronic Cigarettes. Testing of the eAkciz system will continue until October 11, 2026. The full launch is scheduled for November 1, 2026. To find out how ready the electronic system is for this,
The implementation of the e-Excise system involves replacing paper excise stamps with electronic ones, as well as changing the mechanism and deadlines for paying excise tax. This was originally planned for January 1, 2026. However, at the end of last year, it was decided to postpone the launch by 10 months. Government officials agreed to this in response to requests from relevant business associations and key market operators to ensure they had the opportunity to test and properly implement the full-scale e-Excise system.
As emphasized at the time, for example, by the European Business Association, the testing period is effectively being reduced to 2 months instead of the 10 months stipulated by law. At the same time, not all of the subordinate regulations governing the operation of the eExcise system had been adopted yet, and the development of the software was significantly behind schedule.
It appears that last year’s saga surrounding the launch of the e-Excise system is repeating itself. Instead of 10 months to test the system, businesses now have less than three months. There are also just over three months remaining until the actual launch. There are numerous questions regarding how the system functions.
Testing the System’s Readiness
Even before the official announcement of the start of the service’s beta testing, business representatives had the opportunity to assess how excise-taxable goods travel through the eAkciz system—from the manufacturer or importer, through the distributor, to the store and the buyer. The Ministry of Digital Transformation called this testing experience a success.
DL SOLUTION—one of Ukraine’s largest manufacturers and importers in the tobacco industry—and the LotOK retail chain participated in the first comprehensive testing.
A DL SOLUTION representative told the publication
“The company’s cross-functional team participated in refining business processes at the distribution stage and testing integration with the eAkcyz platform. This made it possible to evaluate the practical implementation of business processes within the distribution chain and to formulate proposals regarding the system’s functionality,” DL SOLUTION emphasized.
During the pilot testing, the companies moved products through the entire production (import) chain, from product supply to sale to the end consumer.
As reported to the publication
“In particular, difficulties were noted with scanning certain electronic tax stamps due to the small size of the graphic element. For a retail chain, this is not merely a technical inconvenience but a potential increase in the time required for receiving goods, transferring them, and serving customers. The issue of the scanning protocol for individual packages when shipping goods under a group identifier requires special attention. “This is a critical issue for the retail network, as it is ultimately responsible for the accurate tracking of excise goods,” the expert emphasized.
According to him, the platform’s current state of readiness can be preliminarily assessed as insufficient for a safe, large-scale rollout.
“The platform allows for testing individual scenarios, but it does not yet demonstrate the necessary stability, simplicity, and predictability to support a large number of retail locations. It is critically important for businesses that, by the time of launch, the system operates stably with a high volume of transactions, does not cause delays at checkout counters, and has clear operating rules for all participants in the process—from suppliers to retail chains. “Unless these issues are resolved, there is a risk that the launch of eAkciz will create an additional administrative and operational burden on businesses and could lead to disruptions in retail trade,” stated Roman Pavliuk, a representative of the LotOK chain.
There are also grounds to discuss an additional financial burden. When asked, “Will the introduction of the eAkcyz electronic system require additional expenses on the part of the company?” Roman Pavliuk replied as follows:
“The introduction of eAkciz will indeed require additional expenses from businesses. It’s not just a matter of connecting to the platform. Companies will have to update their point-of-sale software, warehouse management systems, and accounting systems; configure integrations; purchase or upgrade scanning equipment; train staff; and revise internal regulations. For retail chains, this means direct financial costs, an additional burden on staff, and the risk of slower operational processes.”
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A Test of Decision-Making Ability
Ensuring that the eAkciz system is truly ready for daily operation and adapted to real-world business processes—this is the main request addressed to the developers by the test participants. Officials responsible for launching the system are reminded of the 10-month testing period for the e-Excise system, as stipulated by law. Moreover, this period must include the full-scale operation of all its components.
As emphasized by Natalia Fesyun, CEO of the “Ukrtyutyun” Association, with less than four months to go before the e-Excise system’s launch, current testing results indicate a number of issues that do not provide grounds to consider it ready for productive operation. In particular, certain critically important components of the system are still being refined, constant updates are creating new technical problems, and the system itself currently does not demonstrate a sufficient level of stability and throughput.
“Testing is being conducted only on limited volumes that do not correspond to real-world operating scenarios. Manufacturers are already encountering bugs, non-functional features, and a lack of effective technical support. Launching the unfinished eAkcyz system could cause disruptions in production and imports, as well as block logistics and sales operations. This could result in daily budget losses of approximately 500 million UAH and create additional opportunities for the illegal market,” emphasizes Natalia Fesyun.
In her view, the government must ensure the system is properly tested, immediately address legislative gaps, and establish a contingency plan in case the system is not ready. And these—whether they are demands or appeals—are in line with those voiced by business representatives at a recent meeting of the European Business Association.
To get an idea of what a contingency plan might look like in the event the system is not ready, one might recall last fall, when—following criticism from the business community—the launch date for the eAkcyz system was ultimately postponed.
Although this time, government officials assure us that they do not plan to postpone the system’s launch again. Meanwhile, the State Tax Service has officially warned that, starting November 1, 2026, the electronic traceability system for excise goods will become mandatory for all manufacturers, importers, and sellers of alcohol, tobacco products, and e-cigarette liquids. They are also calling on businesses to participate in testing the system in order to adapt their internal software in advance for integration with eAkciz, identify and correct technical inconsistencies, test the creation of electronic excise stamps, and prepare their teams to work under the new system.
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